The Last Concubine

placed her hand on her stomach. She was feeling very empty, but she did not wish to eat. Her ribs and stomach muscles were sore, her throat ached, and her mouth was dry. She felt weak and, even worse, uneasy without quite knowing why.
    She also needed to relieve herself badly.
    A sixth sense for danger made her squint around the room first rather than opening her eyes. A snore made her giggle silently, but she stopped because it hurt her ribs too much. She recognized that snore; it was Ning. She opened her eyes and smiled at the sight of him curled up on the window seat. No doubt he would berate her later for not waking him to help her to the bathing room, but she refused to admit she might need help.
    A vague memory of being violently ill and Ning singing to her made her suspect he had been up with her all night. He did enough to serve her; she did not need his help for this.
    After relieving herself, Lan’xiu looked into the mirror and gasped at her beastly appearance. Dark circles under eyes like burning coal stood out in her white face. In addition, she had a deep crease across one cheek from the pillowslip. After washing her face and drying it, she pushed back the strands of hair surrounding her face that had loosened from her braid while she was sleeping.
    But her bare feet were getting cold on the stone floor, and she didn’t want to linger in the bathing room. She had some confused recollection of being miserable there last night, but she pushed the memories away. She wasn’t ready to deal with them, and there seemed to be no obvious injury other than general soreness. She decided to go back to bed.
    She was barely settled when a tap sounded on the door. Instantly, she sat bolt upright in the bed, her heart pounding in alarm. Ning was also jerked out of a sound sleep and on his feet in an instant. They both remained silent, waiting.
    As they watched, the doorknob twisted and rattled slightly, but no one entered. Ning made the motion with his hand of locking the door and held up the key. Lan’xiu nodded.
    A faint rustling and some whispers sounded outside, and they waited for the intruder, whoever it was, to go away. Then a second, louder knock sounded.
    “Is that you, Jia?” Ning called out.
    “It is I, Dr. Mu, the court physician,” a male voice answered. “The Governor Qiang Hüi Wei sent me to give Princess Lan’xiu some medicine.”
    Two pairs of frightened eyes met. Ning shrugged and Lan’xiu sat tense, the quilt clutched to her bosom.
    “Hüi Wei is concerned and ordered me to see the princess with my own eyes and report back to him that she is well.”
    “Open the door,” Lan’xiu told Ning.
    “I do not have a good feeling about this,” Ning said. “I told—”
    “Open it. If it is a trick, we will be ready.”
     
     
    N ING paused and then went to the door. When he opened it, a short man with a doctor’s hat entered the room, bowing low. He remained just inside the door, looking at Lan’xiu curiously. He held out a small glass bottle to Ning. “Medicine for the princess. I will not touch you without your permission, Princess. My only mission is to assure myself that you are well.”
    “Thank you for your concern, Dr. Mu. As you can see, I am quite well,” Lan’xiu said.
    “But your throat pains you, doesn’t it?” Second Wife Ci’an said, pushing her way into the room past the doctor. Her hair was pulled back into a single queue, and she wore a plain jacket with men’s trousers and a hat like the doctor’s. In her right hand she held a short sword, and she was grinning wickedly. “Did you get sick from the wine? Pity you didn’t come down with the same permanent hangover as stupid little Alute.”
    “You must be mad,” Lan’xiu breathed. “You cannot hope to come here to murder me and get away with it.”
    Dr. Mu was looking at Ci’an with a little nervousness, but he hovered behind her, still clutching the glass bottle Ning had not taken.
    “Your servants will say two male doctors came to your house. They will find you dead with your tame eunuch. No doubt people’s lurid minds will imagine some lover’s quarrel where you killed each other. Perhaps we’ll pose you. Naked, with your legs spread apart and running with blood.” Ci’an licked her lips and laughed.
    “Ci’an-xiānsheng, you cannot be serious. You cannot do this!” the doctor said nervously.
    “Shut up, you stupid little worm. Address me as Second Wife! At least for now until I am First